TP61 six-cell battery very hot - is this normal?

[Edward Mendelson]

I've been using a T61 for years, and never had a problem like this, and I would be grateful for any insight.

I recently bought a new (but not in original packaging) six-cell battery, FRU 42T4670, for my 14-inch, non-wide-screen T61. The Power Manager confirmed that this was a never-used battery manufactured in the past two years or so, in good health. But the battery gets so hot that I can't used the machine on my lap without producing swollen red marks on my skin under the back of the machine. My older nine-cell battery (which I've put back in the machine) gets warm, but not painfully hot like this new six-cell unit.

The battery is not part of Lenovo's recall program (which doesn't apply to batteries as new as this one), but the overheating is real, and unlike anything I've ever experienced with a ThinkPad.

I've stopped using the battery, but I wonder if this is standard for this FRU, or if there's anything to be done about it.

Thanks for any advice.

[ajkula66]

Standard it's not.

Any battery will get warm after a while, but what you're describing indicates a defect.

I would not use it again.

[Edward Mendelson]

I would not use it again.

Agreed. I've sent a message to seller asking if he'll take it back.

[Edward Mendelson]

An update on this. The seller graciously offered to take back the battery - even though I had waited until after the seven-day limit agreed upon during the sale - and even offered to pay the return shipping charges. When I returned the battery, the seller tested it, and found that it tested normally - and sent fifteen screen shots confirming the results. Because the battery tested normally, he decided not to pay the return shipping charges, deducted a fee from the refunded price, and explained that he thought he had already gone the extra mile by accepting the return. I don't have any strong opinions about that part of the story (though I hope, under the circumstances, I would have followed through on what I said I would do).

But I'm very puzzled by my experience with the battery itself. I certainly accept that the battery tested normally, but I'm curious how a normal-testing battery could have run so extremely hot in a machine that I've been using since June 2008 and which never produced remotely that amount of heat before - and certainly isn't producing remotely the same amount of heat with the 92P1133 battery that is in it now. Also, I've owned a total of three T61 models (and still have two), plus four X61 and X61s models, and never experienced comparable heat from the normal- or high-capacity batteries in any of them. (Nor from my old T42 or older ThinkPads, for that matter.)

If anyone has any insights, I'd be grateful to read them.

[TTY]

Lenovo doesn't list the battery you had, 42T4670, as being an accessory for the T61. It's listed as an accessory for the T500 and a few other models, but not for the T61. Batteries that are specified for a T500 will fit mechanically in a T61, some part numbers will also work in a T61. I suspect that some batteries that are specified for T500 might not work well in a T61, amongst them the 42T4670, but i have no evidence for it. If i would need to order a battery for a standard aspect ratio T61, i would order a part number that's specified for that computer model. Such part numbers for 6 cell batteries are:

40Y6799 (Lenovo doesn't specify the cell manufacturer for this part)
92P1137 (Sanyo)
42T4513 (Sanyo)
92P1139 (Panasonic)
92P1141 (Sony)

You can order the 40Y6799 from http://www.lenovo.com. Click on "products" > "accessories" > "power store" > "batteries". In the left column - under "find compatible accessories" -, enter your computer's type and model number (seven characters, like this: TTTTMMM).

[Edward Mendelson]

Thank you - that's excellent advice!

THIRD EDIT: Removed some unwarranted conclusions.

[TuuS]

I've never seen a battery get that hot, and if one did, the thermal fuse would blow leaving the battery unusable. I suspect this may be a chinese knock-off battery. There were many of these being sold on ebay, they look real, even have lenovo or ibm branding, but aren't. Obviously I can't comment on this seller since I haven't seen nor tested the battery, but if it got hot enough to burn you, I'd think it should have shut down.

One other option I would have considered was to try to get a manufactures warranty replacement. If you shipped it back to Lenovo, they should honor the warranty as long as it was purchased as NEW, and is genuine, and if they declared it to be not genuine, then you'd have a case to dispute with paypal, credit card, and/or the website where you bought it. As for the partial refund, I can understand a seller not wanting to lose money on a return of a good product which he cannot resell as unused, so probably not much you can do there, but I agree that it's annoying when someone changes the return policy AFTER the return is negotiated and completed and you have no option in recourse. A few months ago I purchased a removeable video card for a notebook that was advertised as fully tested on ebay and was sent a untested (dead) pull and after offering a cheerful refund I returned it, and as soon as the seller had both my money and the returned part, the terms of the refund suddenly changed. The moral of this story is it's nice to have a friendly forum where you can get to know the people you trade with personally rather then going only by ebay seller ratings that are easy to manipulate. Many sellers ship out untested parts because it's cheaper to let the buyer test them and accept returns then to do extensive testing on every part, and most buyers that just went though a lot of work installing a defective part will be forgiving when a refund is offered, so the sellers get away with it over and over again.

Sorry for the rant, but the point is I feel for you getting burned (pun intended) on this purchase lol and although I don't have any brand new genuine batteries, I did just get one that has 100% charge level remaining and would be glad to discuss selling it if you're interested.

[Edward Mendelson]

Thanks for this. The ThinkPad Power Manager recognized the battery as legitimate, so it's still a bit of a puzzle. If I decide to buy another one, I'll certainly be in touch. Thanks again!

[TuuS]

I've seen generic batteries recognized as genuine by power manager before, and they weren't even the ones that pretend to look genuine, so I suspect the software check would be far from conclusive. It would have been nice to let lenovo warranty look at that battery. Several years ago there was an outfit in NYC that was selling batteries claiming to be genuine IBM, when customers began sending them in for warranty direct to IBM they realized they were fake and all involved ended up in court. All these fake and black market batteries make it impossible for legitimate companies to make affordable replacements. It would be hard to sell a well built $50 generic when there are much cheaper blackmarket batteries available, so we end up with the only reliable option to get the drastically overpriced genuine batteries.

[Edward Mendelson]

This is very interesting to learn. It's too late now to send the battery to Lenovo, because I bought it from a seller in the marketplace forum here, and I've already sent it back. (I described this transaction in an earlier message in this thread.)

I think in the future, though, I'm probably going to spend the extra money and buy directly from Lenovo. But, to be fair, I should report that I also had a good experience recently buying a lightly-used X6x battery from the US eBay seller nh92706. He still has some used batteries and some other ThinkPad gear for sale. The one I bought was exactly as the seller described it, and the sale was very smooth.